From Under the Cork Tree
The bass line in Dance, Dance gives Fall Out Boy a useful place to start: a strong rhythm, a little space and a singer who can make the melody do something unexpected. From Under the Cork Tree is full of dense words and dramatic feelings, but the best songs remain physically direct. You do not have to untangle every line to understand the excitement.
Patrick Stump is the main reason. His voice has a warmth and flexibility that make Pete Wentz's barbed writing sound less fixed in its own cleverness. Sugar, We're Goin Down turns awkward phrasing into a natural, rising melody. The chorus is easy to recognise even when the exact words seem to blur together.
The opening Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued establishes the band's self-conscious humour. It also supplies enough musical force to keep the joke from becoming the whole point. Of All the Gin Joints in All the World makes the relationship anxiety more immediate, helped by a performance that keeps moving instead of pausing to admire each line.
The guitars and drums are solid throughout, though the arrangements often depend on a familiar combination of thick chords and a large chorus. When the tune is less distinctive, the wordplay has to carry more than it should. A few songs feel more memorable as titles than as complete performances.
There are useful changes inside that consistency. 7 Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen) adds a sharper guitar character, and Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year lets the group's uncertainty become part of an especially strong hook. The heavier turn in I Slept with Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me briefly exposes the band's rougher instincts.
XO brings the record to a forceful close. The album's mixture of sarcasm and vulnerability can be exhausting, but Stump keeps giving the feelings a melody worth following. That partnership makes its best songs much more than clever complaints.
